Meta fined $24.7 million for campaign finance disclosure violations

SEATTLE

A Washington state judge on Wednesday fined Facebook’s parent company Meta nearly $25 million for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance disclosure law, in what is considered the largest campaign finance sanction in U.S. history.

The sentence handed down by King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North was the maximum allowed for more than 800 violations of Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, passed by voters in 1972 and later strengthened by the legislature. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued the maximum was appropriate given his office previously sued Facebook in 2018 for violating the same law.

Meta, based in Menlo Park, Calif., did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Washington’s Transparency Act requires ad sellers such as Meta to maintain and make public the names and addresses of those who purchase political ads, the target of those ads, how the ads were paid for, and the number total views of each advertisement. Ad sellers must provide the information to anyone who requests it. Television stations and newspapers have obeyed the law for decades.

But Meta has repeatedly opposed the requirements, arguing unsuccessfully in court that the law is unconstitutional because it “unduly burdens political discourse” and is “virtually impossible to fully comply with”. Although Facebook maintains an archive of political ads served on the platform, the archive does not disclose all of the information required by Washington law.

“I have one word for Facebook’s conduct in this matter – arrogance,” Ferguson said in a press release. “He intentionally ignored Washington’s election transparency laws. But it wasn’t enough. Facebook argued in court that these laws should be declared unconstitutional. It’s breathtaking. Where is the corporate responsibility?

In 2018, following Ferguson’s first lawsuit, Facebook agreed to pay $238,000 and pledged transparency in campaign finance and political advertising. He then said he would stop selling political ads in the state rather than comply with the requirements.

Nonetheless, the company continued to sell political ads, and Ferguson sued again in 2020.

“Meta was aware that its announced ‘ban’ would not, and did not, prevent all such advertisements from continuing to be displayed on its platform,” North wrote last month concluding that Meta’s violations were intentional.

Each violation of the law is generally punishable up to $10,000, but penalties can be tripled if a judge finds them intentional. North fined Meta $30,000 for each of his 822 violations, or about $24.7 million. Ferguson described the fine as the largest campaign finance sanction ever imposed in the United States.

Meta, one of the world’s wealthiest companies, on Wednesday reported quarterly profit of $4.4 billion, or $1.64 a share, on revenue of nearly $28 billion, during the three-month period ending September 30.

This story was originally published October 26, 2022 9:24 p.m.